Author 




Title 



Book v.SJX-~£ 



Class 



Imprint 



W~£lU&s "SPO 



A MANUAL 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY 



GEORGIA. 



PKEPAKED UNDEK THE DIRECTION OF THE 

COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE 



)K THE STATE OP GEORGIA. 



Atlanta, Georgia: 
.ias. p. harrison & co., printers and binders. 

1875. 






i 



A MANUAL OF SHEEP HUSBANDRY 
IN GEORGIA. 



Circular No. 19.] 

STATE OF GEORGIA, 
Department of Agriculture, 

Atlanta, October 15, 1875. 

The act establishing a Department of Agriculture for the 
State of Georgia, denning the duties of the Commissioner of 
Agriculture, says : 

" It shall be the especial duty of said Commissioner to in- 
vestigate and report, as is hereinbefore set forth, upon the cul- 
ture of wool, the utility and profits of sheep raising, and all 
the information upon this important subject, that he may deem 
of interest to the people of this State." 

In order to carry out practically this specific requirement of 
the law, the regular correspondents of this Departments, in all 
parts of the State, were requested to give with their August 
returns, the names and Post-office address of three of the prin- 
cipal sheep raisers in their respective counties. 

Having thus learned the address of those actually engaged 
in the business, the following catechism was sent to each in 
Special Circular No. 9. 

" Please answer the following questions, basing your replies 
upon your personal experience and observation in sheep hus- 
bandry : 

" 1. What breed or breeds have you tested ? 

" 2. Which has proved most profitable ? 

" 3. What crosses have you tested ? 

"4. Which, have proved most profitable? 

" 5. When did you commence keeping sheep ? 

" 6. How many have you in your flock? 

" 7. What variety do you breed at this time ? 



" 8. What variety do you recommend for general purposes 
— for wool and mutton ? 

" 9. What is the annual cost per head of keeping sheep ? 

" 10. What per cent, per annum on investment do your 
sheep pay ? 

"11. What is the average annual clip per sheep in unwashed 
wool ? 

" 12. What is the average price received per pound for un- 
washed wool ? 

" 13. What is the cost of a pound of wool after charging the 
sheep with all the expenses, and crediting them with lambs, 
mutton, manure, &c? 

" 14. What is the average number of lambs raised annually 
compared with the number of ewes kept? 

" 15. What is the average price per head received for lambs 
sold to the butcher? 

u i6. What is the average value of sheep per head in your 
section ? 

" 17. What is the average price per head received for mutton 
sheep ? 

" 18. What summer pasturage have your sheep ? 

" 19. What winter pasturage ? 

'* 20. Is it necessary to feed them in winter ? 

"21. If so on what do you feed them ? 

" 22. How long do they require it ? 

"23. What disease or diseases have proved most destruc- 
tive ? 

" 24. State the remedy or remedies successfully used ? 

" 25. What are the principal obstacles to sheep raising? 

" 26. What remedies do you suggest ? 

" 27. Have you utilized the manure from your sheep ? 

"28. Give the result of your experience as to its value? 

" 29. Givt facts as to area annually fertilized by a given num- 
ber of sheep ? 

'• 30 Give facts as to results in crops raised on lands so fer- 
tilized? 

"31. Give any other information of value." 

From the answers returned to the above questions the fol- 
lowing information is gathered. 



Of those who have tested crosses in Georgia 98 per cent, 
report the cross of the merino and the native most profitable. 

The average annual profit on the capital invested in sheep 
in Georgia is b^ per cent. This presents a very marked con- 
trast between the profits of sheep raising and cotton growing. 

The average annual cost per head of keeping sheep is only 
fifty-four cents. In answer to Question No. 13, the average 
cost of raising a pound of wool is only six cents, while the 
average price for which the unwashed wool is sold is ZZ X A 
cents, or 271^ cents net. 

An average of seventy-four lambs are raised for every hun- 
dred ewes, notwithstanding the ravages ot dogs. 

The average yield of unwashed wool to the sheep is 3.44 
pounds, which, at 27 y$ cents net, gives an average clear income 
in wool from each sheep of 94 cents. 

The average price received for lambs sold to the butcher in 
Georgia is $1 87. The average price of stock sheep is $2.58 
per head. 

The average price of muttons is reported at $2.75 per head. 

90 per cent, of the correspondents report dogs the principal, 
and generally, the only obstacle to sheep husbandry. 

75 per cent, of the correspondents recommend the protec- 
tion of sheep against the ravages of dogs, by some appropriate 
legislation. Many report the enterprise generally abandoned, 
on account of the absence of such protection. 

There were in Georgia, in i860, according to the U. S. cen- 
sus, 512,618 sheep. 

The U. S. census of 1870, gives the number of sheep in 
Georgia, as 419,465. 

According to the returns of the Tax Receivers, collected 
under the auspices of this Department, the number now in the 
State is 319,323. This shows a decrease from i860 to 1870, 
of 93,153, and from 1870 to 1875, of 100,142 sheep in the 
State, or a decrease, in fifteen years, of 193,295, or 38 per cent, 
decrease during a period in which there should have been 100 
per cent, increase. 

These are startling facts which demand the careful consid- 
eration of the statesman and legislator. 

Why is it that a branch of industry which, according to the 



verdict of those engaged in it, pays an annual profit of 63 per 
cent, on the capital invested, should be languishing, and, in 
many instances, entirely abandoned ? 

From the same source from which the number of sheep in 
the State is obtained, we learn that there are 99,415 dogs in 
Georgia, and that they destroyed between April 1st, 1874, and 
April 1st, 1875, 28,625 sheep. May we not find an explana- 
tion of the decrease in the number of sheep in the above fig- 
ures ? 

In the June reports, three-fourths of the regular crop re- 
porters represent the ravages of dogs as the principal obstacle 
to sheep-raising, and estimate that 15 per cent, of the sheep 
in the State are annually killed by dogs, and that 6 per cent, 
are lost by disease and other causes. 

The special correspondents on sheep-husbandry — those ac- 
tually engaged in the business, and hence more familiar with 
the subject — were asked to state the principal obstacles to 
sheep-husbandry. 90 per cent, of the whole number report 
the ravages of dogs as the principal, and generally the only, 
obstacle. 

The statistics collected by the Tax Receivers seem to corrob- 
orate the reports of these two sets of correspondents, since 
there are thirty-one dogs for every one hundred sheep, or nearly 
one to three, and since these dogs are allowed to destroy in one 
year 28,625 sheep, worth $73,852, or 9 per cent, of the value 
of all the sheep in the State. Notwithstanding this loss, the 
annual profits are 63 per cent. Remove the cause of the loss, 
and the profits will be 72 per cent, on the capital at present 
invested in sheep, and the amount so invested would, in a 
very few years, be quadrupled, when the clear profits, at the 
above rates, would be $2,372,687, per annum — more than the 
total receipts into the treasury of the State in the year 1874,* 
and more than one-fourth the State debt. 

The value of the sheep annually killed by dogs, $73,852, 
would more than pay the per diem and mileage of the mem- 
bers of the House of Representatives of Georgia. 

Correspondents report that 100 sheep regularly folded will 
fertilize, so as to double the yield of crops, eight acres a year. 



At this rate, even the number at present in Georgia will fer- 
tilize annually 25,544 acres. 

We will suppose this area to be planted in cotton, and that 
without the sheep manure it would produce one half of a bale 
of cotton per acre. The increase on that area would be 12,772 
bales of cotton, worth, at $50 net per bale, $638,600. 

If there were 2,000,000 sheep in Georgia, as there would be 
if properly protected, the increased production from the effects 
of their manure, at the above rates, would be worth $4,000,000 
per annum, or one half the amount of the State debt. 

It is hoped and believed that the Legislature will, at its next 
session, adopt such measures as will remove the present ob- 
stacles to this most important enteiprise. 

If this is done, thousands of farmers in Georgia will immedi- 
ately embark in sheep husbandry, and millions of acres of land 
now idle and an expense to their owners will be rendered pro- 
fitable as sheep walks, and gradually improved in fertility. It 
will open the way for a tide of immigration into Georgia of 
thousands of the best, most quiet, peaceable, industrious and 
profitable laborers, who nearly double their number annually, 
demand no wages, do not steal or commit other crimes, labor 
assiduously throughout the year, feed and clothe themselves 
and their masters, make no strikes, utter no complaints, and 
never " die in debt to man." 

Such a laborer is the sheep, the best and cheapest in the 
world. 

Is it not remaikable that such laborers can not lie down to 
rest at night in a civilized community without risking their 
lives at the hands (or rather, the mouths) of their idle and law- 
less neighbors, the dogs, who spend the day in idleness or 
sleep, and the night in murder and theft ? 

Farmers who read the above facts, derived as they are, from 
the experience of practical herdsmen will very naturally ask 
themselve the question, 

SHALL I BUY SHEEP ? 

The answer to this question in the face of all the obstacles 
which at present exist in Georgia is rather difficult, especially 
to the small farmer who cannot afford to keep a number suffi- 



cient to justify the employment of a shepherd to watch and 
protect his flock. 

The small farmer, who would keep only from fifty to one 
hundred sheep, cannot thus safely invest his money unless his 
farm is so arranged that his flock can be kept near his house 
and securely penned at night. 

This necessity generally prevents the utilization of Ms best 
pasture lands and greatly increases the expense of keeping 
sheep. 

It is therefore the small farmers, constituting the great mass 
of the agriculturalists of Georgia, who suffer from the neglect of 
our law-makers to afford the necessary protection to this most 
profitable branch of their legitimate business. The first ques- 
tion then for his consideration is, as to the requisite pasturage 
or range. If this is abundant, he must consider well if with his 
surroundings, the probable loss by doers and stealage will leave 
a margin for profit. If his sheep can be protected from rogues, 
both quadruped ci7id biped, without too much cramping the pas- 
turage or increasing the expense, a handsome profit is assured* 
The keeper of as many as 400 r 500 sheep is independent of 
dogs and rogues since he can ord to employ a herdsman to 
accompany the flock, and no only orotect them, but econo- 
mise by herding them on unc tivated lands that could not be 
otherwise utilized. 

Hoping that many farmers, and especially the young men in 
Georgia, will be induced by the above facts to engage in sheep 
raising a short manual will be furnished to serve as a guide to 
the inexperienced, and perhaps be serviceable to many who, 
though engaged in the business, have given but little attention 
to either its principles or its practice. 

The first question which demands attention is the adaptation 
of Georgia to sheep husbandry. 

THE CLIMATE 

of Georgia corresponds with that of the best wool growing re- 
gions of the world. Spain, once so famous for its merinos, is 
warmer on its southern coast than Southern Georgia. Aus- 
tralia, now one of the principal wool-growing regions of the 
world, embraces the latitude of Georgia, but a maximum tem- 



perature in December — their mid-summer month — of 112° 
Fahrenheit. 

From Mr. Randall, on " sheep husbandry in the South," we 
get some idea of the progress of wool growing in Australia and 
Van Pieman's Land. He says : "In 1S10 the export of wool 
from Australia and Van Dieman's Land was 167 pounds; in 
1833 it had reached 3,516,869 pounds. In 1843 it amounted 
to 16,226,400 pounds." In 1848 it had increased to 30,034,567 
pounds. In 1871 the crop of Australia, Tasmania and New 
Zealand was 168,785,993 pounds. There is no reason wh)' 
with proper protection, Georgia may not show a proportionate 
increase in the next decade. 

The effects of warm climates and their perennial herbage 
upon wool, bear a marked analogy to those of warm climates 
upon vegetation, giving increased vigor of growth, length, uni- 
formity and strength of fibre, and consequently greater weight 
to the wool. 

Consider in this connection the difference in the cost of 
keeping sheep in warm and cold climates, and we find that 
warm climates have decidedly the advantage. 

On this subject correspondents.shall speak from their expe- 
rience. 

Mr. David Ayers, of Camilla, Mitchell county, in South- 
western Georgia, where snow never falls and the ground seldom 
freezes, and where the original pine forest is carpeted with na- 
tive grass, says his sheep — 3,500 in number — cost him annually 
fourteen cents per head, clip three pounds of unwashed wool, 
which sells at thirty cents per pound, giving a clear profit of 
ninety per cent, on the money and labor invested in sheep. 
Lands suited to sheep raising can be purchased in this section 
of the State for from $1.50 to $10 per acre according to loca- 
tion. Mr. Ayers does not feed his sheep at any time during 
the year, neither has he introduced the improved breeds, using 
only what is known as the native sheep. 

Of course the cross of the Spanish merino on this stock 
would give better results in both quantity and quality of wool. 
These sheep receive little care except to be gathe. up once 
a year to be sheared and marked. 



8 

Mr. Ayers complains of the ravages of dogs on the sheep, 
and of hogs and eagles on lambs. 

Mr. John McDowell, of Washington county, Pennsylvania, 
keeps 650 highly improved sheep, which cost annually, $1.54 
per head to keep them. He aims to make his wool clip clear, 
which averages 4 lbs. of brook-washed wool* per sheep, and 
sold this year at fifty-six cents per lb., or $2 24 for each 
sheep sheared ; but the last crop cost, on account of the severe 
winter, fifteen cents per lbi, which makes his net income per 
sheep, $1.60. His sheep are worth $3.50 per head, and his 
net profits are forty-six percent, on- the capital invested in 
them. 

The land on which Mr. McDowell pastures his sheep is 
worth about fifty dollars per acre, or fully ten times the value 
of that on which Mr. Ayers' flocks feed. 

In other words, Mr. McDowell, in the fine farming regions 
of Pennsylvania, must invest, supposing that he keeps two 
sheep to the acre and Mr. Ayers one, five times as much in 
land as Mr. Ayers, to make one-half the profit on the money 
invested in sheep. 

It will thus appear, thet where sheep-husbandry is made a 
specialty, Southern Georgia has a decided advantage over 
Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Rob't. C Humber, of Putnam county, in Middle Geor- 
gia, furnishes some interesting facts from his experience in 
sheep raising as a factor of mixed husbandry, in which the 
famous and much dreaded Bermuda grass is utilized. 

He keeps 138 sheep of the cross between the Merino and 
the common stock. 

He says they cost "nothing except the salt they eat," while 
they pay 100 per cent, on the investment, in mutton, lambs 
and wool. 

They yield an average of 3 lbs. of wool per head, which he 
sells at the very low price of twenty-five cents — less than the 
market price. It costs him nothing except the shearing. His 
sheep range on Bermuda grass old fields in summer, and the 

* Owing to its freedom from hay seed, and the fact that the heavy spring rains wash 
out the yolk and dirt, just before shearing time, Georgia unwashed wool is as clean as 
Pennsylvania brook-washed. 



plantation at large, embracing the fields from which crops 
have been gathered, and the cane bottoms, in winter. They 
are never fed at any season. 

No diseases of consequence are reported in the flocks in 
Georgia. 

Having selected a representative report from each of the 
lower sections of Georgia, we will now put Mr. Richard Peters, 
who is, perhaps, better informed on the subject in hand, than 
any other gentleman in Georgia — on the witness stand, and 
have his testimony on the subject of sheep husbandry in North 
Georgia. Mr. Peters has tested the "Spanish Merino, French 
Merino, South-Down, Oxfordshire-Down, Leicester, Asiatic 
Broad-tail or Tunisian, Improved Kentucky, Cotswold and 
native sheep." 

Of these, the Spanish Merino and natives proved most prof- 
itable, the other pure breeds proving unhealthy with him. 

He has tested the crosses between the South-Down and 
Cotswold, South-Down and native, Cotswold and native, and 
Spanish Merino and native. 

The crosses between the Spanish Merino and native, and 
the Cotswold and native, have proved most profitable. Of 
these two crosses he, in common with nearly every other Geor- 
gia correspondent, gives the decided preference to the cross 
of the Spanish Merino and native. 

Mr. Peters' experience and experiments, extending through 
twenty-seven years, are of great value; and while they must 
have been very expensive to him, they will save others the ex- 
pense and time of ascertaining, by experiment, what he has 
already done for them. 

"For general purposes, for wool and mutton," he recom- 
mends, "most decidedly, the cross from native ewes and Span- 
ish Merino bucks — the progeny showing marked improvement, 
having constitution, fattening properties, thriftiness, and a 
compact close fleece." 

" Where the pasturage is very good and more size is desired, 
a Cotswold buck may then be used to advantage, with the one- 
half or three-fourths blood Merino ewes. A first cross between 
the Cotswold and native is seldom successful ; the purebred 
Cotswold begins to decline after the first season, and their 



10 

progeny seldom do well unless the pasturage is extra good and 
in small flocks, with constant care and attention." 

While he raises only seventy lambs to the hundred ewes of 
the pure merinos, he raises a lamb for every ewe of the cross- 
bred native and merinos. 

During mild winters in Gordon county, his sheep require 
feeding only thirty days ; in cold, wet winters, twice that length 
of time. 

Speaking of the remedies for worms in the head, foot-rot and 
diseased livers and intestines of the lambs, caused by parasitic 
worms, he says : " Change of pasturage and a liberal use of 
tar on the noses of the sheep during the summer months will 
check the fly during the time of depositing its eggs on the 
nostrils of the sheep. This disease shows itself by a running 
at the nose, and is much more prevalent among the native 
sheeD than the Merino. 

" The ' Foot Rot ' generally yields to blue stone and spirits 
of + urpentine, after a free use of the knife. It can readily be 
eradicated from a flock by the use of nitrate of silver and burnt 
alum. The disease caused by worms in the internal viscera of 
lambs has shown itself, to some extent, in the flocks of upper 
Georgia. Change of pasture, and keeping the lambs from wet 
low-ground pastures during the summer months, and especially 
at weaning time, will prevent a spread of the disease. 

" When lambs are in good order and run on upland pas- 
tures this disease does not show itself to any injurious extent." 

Speaking of the value of the manure of the sheep, he says * 
" I can only judge of its value by the co npact sod of grass on 
my sheep pastures, capable of sustaining ten head to one, as 
compared to twenty years ago." 

He further says : ''I have found that the native sheep can 
be rapidly improved by proper attention, and by separating the 
ewe" lambs from the back until a year old. This is the basis of 
any successful attempt at improving the native, sheep, and unless 
it is attended to no great change can be made. One of the ad- 
vantages attending the merino, is the fact that the ewes seldom 
breed until they are two years old." He says: "The best 
combination flock for mutton and wool, suited to our climate, 



11 

can readily be built up on the natives as the basis, using the 
merino buck for the first cross, and then the Cotswold to give 
more size and a longer staple to the fleece." 

Lengthy extracts have been given from Mr. Peter's replies to 
the foregoing questions, in order that others may avail them- 
selves of his large practical experience and observation. 

It will be seen that his experience agrees with that of nearly 
every other sheep raiser in the State, as to the crosses most 
profitable in Georgia. It is a well established fact that the 
large, long wooled Leicesters and Cotswolds are not adapted 
to our climate or pasturage. They require a cool climate and 
a full bite of grass. Even if we had both of these requisites 
it is plain that wool growing must, for many years, be the lead- 
ing object of the sheep husbandry of Georgia, since we have 
not home markets for mutton. 

INCREASE OF LAMBS IS INCREASE OF WOOL. 

A first principle, which every sheep raiser should lay down 
as the foundation of successful husbandry is, that "increase of 
lambs is increase of wool," and, hence, especial attention 
should be given to the ewes at lambing time, and the necessary 
means employed to have the lambs to come as early in the sea- 
son as possible. 

In all of Middle and Lower Georgia the lambs should com- 
mence coming by the first of January. In North Georgia, 
either in November, or last of February and first of March. It 
is an old maxim, that "one January is worth two March lambs." 

To regulate this, the bucks should not be allowed to run 
through the year with the ewes, but should be separated from 
them as soon as they have finished service in the fall, and kept 
L/om them until their services are again needed. 

\The period of gestation of the ewe is 151 to 152 days, so 
that to have the lambs commence coming by the first of Jan- 
uary the bucks should be turned with the ewes by the first of 
August. January lambs make better carcasses, and, of course, 
yield more wool th; n late ones. 

During the lambing season, the breeding ewes should be 
kept in a flock to themselves, seen daily, and unless there is an 
abundance of green pasturage, should be fed moderately, but 



12 

regularly. Cotton seed afford a cheap and excellent food for 
sheep. These, with oat or rye pastures, sown early in the fall, 
will afford sufficient food to induce an abundant flow of milk 
for the lambs, and, at the same time, keep the ewes in a healthy, 
thriving condition, and increase the clip of wool for the next 
season. It is important for the health of the sheep, and for 
the quantity as well as the quality of the wool, that they should 
not grow thin during the winter; and, indeed, that they should 
continue in a uniformly good condition throughout the year. 
It is a recognized fact among wool-growers, that fat sheep 
produce more, though perhaps coarser wool, than thin ones, 
and that the strength, as well as the length of the fibre, is im- 
proved by continued health and good condition Of the sheep. 
The part of the fibre grown during periods of low condition 
or health, will be weaker than that grown when an abundance 
of food is supplied, and these weak points in the fibre injure 
its quality, and, of course, its sale. 

It is on this principle that the wool grown in warm climates, 
where the sheep have a continuous supply of green food, is 
heavier and of better quality than that grown in colder cli- 
mates, where the sheep grow thin during severe winters. 

BUCKS. 

One buck in vigorous condition will serve fifty ewes, if 
allowed to run with them — more, if kept up and the ewes 
turned out as soon as they have been served once. To avoid 
unnatural excitement and undue worry by running from ewe 
to ewe, and by fighting, each buck should, if possible, be 
placed in a separate enclosure, with the ews intended for him. 
If an expensive buck is used, and it is desired that he shall 
serve a large number of ewes, he may be kept in a pen into 
which fifteen or twenty ewes may be turned at a time. The 
brisket of the buck may be rubbed with Venetian red and lard, 
or common lampblack and lard. Have an active shepherd 
constantly present, who, with as little excitement as possible; 
will remove the ewes as fast as the buck marks them with the 
coloring matter on his brisket. 

By this means a buck may serve an hundred ewes with as 



13 

little injury to himself, and with as much certainty as to results, 
as he will fifty when allowed to run with the flock. 

Bucks should be fed on oats during the period of their ser- 
vice. 

Ram lambs should not be admitted to service under any cir- 
cumstances. 

Yearling bucks should not be allowed to serve more than 
thirty ewes. At two years old they may be admitted to full 
service. 

SELECTION. 

In the selection of bucks, or in turning out lambs for that 
purpose, " form, size, and covering " are the three points to be 
considered. 

If the buck is to be coupled to a promiscuous flock of ewes 
his form should be symmetrical, and well developed at every 
point. 

If he is intended to serve ewes that are defective in any one 
point, the buck should, if possible, be selected with a special 
development in opposition to the defects of the ewes, so that such 
defect may be neutralized in the progeny. Lambs intended for 
service as bucks, besides the requisites of form, size, and cover- 
ing, should have evidences of health and thrift, care being taken 
that no impediments be placed in the way of 'their full develop- 
ment. 

Bucks should neither be small, or should they be large, at the 
expense of symmetry, hardiness and compactness. The cover- 
ing, or fleece, should be compact, uniform, and envelope the 
whole body. The selection of bucks is of especial importance 
to the Georgia husbandman, since his first object must be to 
"grade up " the native stock by the use of pure or nearly pure 
bred Spanish merino bucks, with a special view to the develop- 
ment of their wool producing properties, improving at the same 
time the weight and quality of the fleece. Twenty dollars seems 
to our people a large price to be paid for a buck, but when the 
fact that such a cross will add a pound or more to the weight 
of the fleece and several cents to its value, the advantages of 
such an investment will be too apparent to require further com- 
ment 



14 



SUMMER MANAGEMENT. 



Whether sheep-raising be made a factor of mixed husbandry 
or a specialty, the herdsman should remember that for sheep 
"change is more important than range." In the extensive 
sheep-walks of extreme North, or the wire grass region of South 
Georgia, the flocks find the necessary change by extending their 
walk. 

If they are kept within inclosures, they should have frequent 
change of pasture to secure health and the necessary variety of 
food. 

If a given number of sheep are to be grazed upon ioo acres, 
they will thrive better if this is divided into two fields of 5o 
acres each, and the flock alternated monthly between them, 
than if they are allowed to run constantly on the whole area. 
Besides having fresh shading ground during the day and fresh 
beds at night, there are certain pungent plants which seem 
necessary to the health of the sheep, and which become ex- 
hausted or exterminated on permanent sheep-walks. 

SALT, FRESH WATER AND SHADE. 

Salt should be either made constantly accessible to sheep in 
their pasture by placing the rock salt in boxes, in sufficient 
number to prevent scuffling and fighting over them, or they 
should be salted regularly twice a week in boxes or troughs, or 
on clean rocks provided for the purpose, selecting the evening 
in preference to the morning to avoid too free use of 
water after the salt and its consequent bad effects on the 
health of the sheep. Troughs dug in ordinary pine poles, filled 
with common tar and this kept regularly sprinkled with salt 
and placed at a convenient point in the sheep-walk, serve the 
double purpose of supplying salt and inducing a moderate con- 
sumption of the tar which acts as a disinfectant, and con- 
duces to health. 

While there are advantages in having the salt always acces- 
sible, the semi-weekly inspection of the flock by the master at 
salting time, and the constant renewal of acquaintance be- 
tween the master and his flock, is exceedingly valuable to both. 
The eye of the master is the safeguard of the flock. 

The sheep is exceedingly neat, and even fastidious about its 



15 

food and drink, and hence, should have clean grass and clear 
running water. Though they use less water than other ani- 
mals, often passing some days without, it is none the less 
necessary for their comfort and health that it should be aces- 
sible. 

During our summer months sheep feed early in the morning 
and late in the evening, spending the rest of the day in the 
shade. 

This fact is enough to show the necessity of an abandance of 
good shade in every pasture. They seek the same sheltering 
places day after day until they become very foul and injurious 
to the health of the flock. 

Unless a change of pasturage is practicable, these resting 
places should be occasionally cleaned off, and the manure from 
them saved. Flocks should never be disturbed in the heat of 
the day; all changes from pasture to pasture, from pasture to 
pen, and vice versa, being made either early in the morning or 
in the cool of the evening, giving a decided preference to the 
morning. 

The flock should be closely watched in spring and early 
summer for indications of maggots in the wool, and spirits of 
turpentine promptly used on the infected part. A sheep thus 
affected usually separates itself from the rest of the flock and 
mopes about alone. 

The presence of maggots in the wool will be indicated by a 
dingy bluish appearance. If prompt attention is not given, the 
flesh will be penetrated, and serious injury, if not death, ensue. 

If not salted regularly in wet spells, diarrhea is apt to follow, 
with a fouling of the wool in the rear. These " tags " should be 
promptly removed with the shears, and if the disease is obsti- 
nate, the sheep fed for a few days on meal with a little salt in it, 
and other dry food if the patient can be induced to take it. 

SHEARING. 

As the leading object of sheep husbandry in Georgia must 
for years be the growth of wool, next in importance to breed- 
ing to the highest development of the fleece, is its judicious 
gathering and management after it is grown, to secure the best 
profits. 



16 

The great object to be looked to then, is to secure the maxi- 
mum uniform clip of marketable wool, with minimum risk of 
health and comfort to the sheep. No better rule as to the time 
of shearing can be given, than that clear warm weather should 
be selected, not so early as to risk the health of the sheep by 
cool spells following the removal of its winter coat, nor so late 
that the winter coat has become oppressive, or has commenced 
to waste to make room for another. In the selection of this 
appropriate season each owner must exercise a sound judg- 
ment. 

HOW TO CATCH A SHEEP 

is a matter of more importance than would appear at first glance. 
The usual practice of catching them by the wool is cruel — not 
to say barbarous. Any one who wishes to see the bad effects of 
such a practice can do so by catching a sheep intended for the 
butcherby the wool and then noticing the inflamed places on the 
pelt, caused by pulling the wool, when it is removed, say in 
twenty-four hours after it is caught. Having the sheep in a pen, 
the shepherd advances, placing his left arm around the neck of 
the sheep and the right hand upon the rump to prevent its back- 
ing. After raising the fore legs from the ground he passes first 
the right and then the left h:.nd around, just behind the fore 
legs, and the sheep is at his mercy to be removed to a smooth 
grass plat adjacent to the pen, on which a canvas or some green 
leaves have been spread. The shearer places the sheep on its 
right side, bringing its head under his left leg beneath the 
bend of the knee, and its hind legs under the right leg, he being 
in a sitting position on the ground. Commencing near the mid- 
dle of the belly-wool, pass the shears smoothly but rapidly for- 
ward, pressing the wool towards the back gently, but not with 
sufficient tension to risk raising the pelt in the way of the 
shears. When the wool has been clipped a little beyond the 
ridge of the back, the fleece is tucked well under the sheep, 
which is simply rolled over from the shearer, and at the same 
time drawn towards him, the part of the fleece already clipped 
being kept rolled over without separating it from that remain- 
ing on the sheep. When the entire fleece has been removed, it 
is spread on a clean sheet or floor with the clipped side down. 
The scraps are. thrown in, the wool from the neck, legs and 



17 

sides folded over, and commencing with the rump end, the 
whole is rolled towards the shoulders, applying sufficient pres- 
sure to compress but not zvad the fleece. Two threads of twine, 
each four inches from the ends of the roll, confine it and finish 
its preparation for market. 

MARKING AND DOCKING. 

Before the weather grows very warm in spring, and before 
the lambs are old enough to render the operation very painful 
or dangerous, marking, castration and docking should be at- 
tended to. Castration is a very simple process, and if done 
when the lambs are not more than a month old, a perfectly 
safe one. A little tar and grease, or simply common salt 
rubbed on the wound will prove advantageous. 

Docking should never be omitted, since it improves the ap- 
pearance of the sheep and prevents much trouble, both to the 
sheep and the shepherd when purging takes place. In per- 
forming this operation the skin of the tail should be pulled 
with the finger and thumb towards the body, and a smooth cut 
made with a chisel and mallet on a block prepared for the pur- 
pose. 

The object in puiliag the skin forward is, that after the^cut 
is made it may return and cover the stump, and not only fa- 
cilitate healing, but prevent an unsightly appearance. 

DATING THE BIRTH OF LAMBS. 

Marking should serve the double purpose of indicating the 
ownership, and the year on which the lamb is dropped. 

To indicate the latter, the following plan is suggested. It 
is not often profitable to suffer sheep to attain a greater age 
than ten years. Nine distinctive marks, therefore, to indicate 
the year of birth, is all that will be needed, since all should be 
scaled off for the butcher before or at the tenth year. 

Take the present decade to illustrate the plan. [Lambs 
born at the beginning of a decade, shall have only the mark of 
ownership. Those born the first year, or in 187 1, shall have 
around hole in the right ear; those dropped in 1872, will 
have two round holes in the right ear; in 1873, an underbit in 
the right ear; in C874, an overbit in the right ear; in 1875, a 
swallowfork in the right; in 1876, a round hole in the left ear; 
2 



18 

in 1877, two holes in the left; in 1878, an underbit in the left; 
in 1879, an overbit in the left; in 1880, only the mark of own- 
ership again. It will be seen that the first five years of the 
decade are indicated on the right ear, and the remainder on 
the left. The advantages of such a system will be readily un- 
derstood by those who have kept sheep, and have been com- 
pelled to resort to the troublesome expedient of examining 
the teeth of every sheep in a large flock to learn which had 
reached the age for scaling off. While the lamb is in hand 
receiving the mark of ownership, the time and trouble required 
to date its birth, will be a mere trifle compared to the advan- 
vantage of knowing by an inspection of the ears, the age of 
each sheep in the flock. 

If this system was adopted by every herdsman in the State, 
besides preventing much loss by the death of the superannua- 
ted, purchasers of flocks could start with a full knowledge of 
the age of their sheep, and know which to scale off. 

TO DETERMINE THE AGE BY THE TEETH. 

This cannot be better presented than by a partial quotation 
from " Randall on Sheep Husbandry in the South ;" a very val- 
uable book, which should be in the library of every farmer in 
Georgia who keeps sheep. Occasion is here taken to ac- 
knowledge its superior merit, and to heartily recommend it to 
Georgia farmers. 

On the subject of teeth he says : 

"The shtep has 24 molar teeth, and eight incisors. The 
latter are confined to the lower jaw, being opposed by a firm, 
hard, elastic pad or cushion on the upper jaw. The incisors 
are ^07^-shaped — i. e., concave within and convex without. 
The lamb is born without inci*or teeth, or it has but two. In 
three or four weeks it has eight small short ones. 

"When not far from a year old — though sometimes not until 
fourteen, fifteen, or sixteen months old — the two central inci- 
sors are shed, and their place is supplied by two longer and 
broader teeth. The sheep is then termed, in this country, a 
yearling or yearling past' 

"Two of .ne 'lamb teeth' continue to be shed annually, 
and their places supplied with the permanent ones, until the 
sheep becomes ''full-mouthed' at five years old. 



19 

"At six years old the incisors begin to diminish in breadth. 
At seven they have lost their fan-like shape, becoming equilat- 
eral, long and narrow. At eight, they are still more narrow ; 
and, this year or the next, reversing the flaring or divergent 
position, they begin to point in toward the two central ones. 
Thair narrowness and inward direction increases for a year or 
two more, when they begin to drop out." 

They should be prepared for the butcher before they lose 
their teeth — say from the eighth to the tenth year of their 
age, according t* the value and vigor of the animal. This is 
for merinos and their crosses. The long-wools lose their 
teeth earlier. 

WEANING LAMBS. 

At shearing season, the lambs being now four or five months 
old, should be separated from the ewes, and placed in company 
with a few barren or "turned off" ewes, to guide and gentle 
them, in a field sufficiently distant from their mothers to pre- 
vent them from hearing each other's bleatings. 

The lambs should have fresh and tender pasturage for the 
first few weeks, and the ewes dry and short food, to reduce the 
flow of milk. As soon as assured of the safety of their bags 
from " garget," the ewes should be placed on good pastures, to 
prepare them for winter. 

Bells should be placed on a few of the strongest and boldest 
of each flock, to give warning of danger. They serve, also, to 
help the herdsman to find his band if in woods or in foggy 
weather, and some claim that they serve to frighten off dogs 

and wolves. 

The diseases to which sheep in Georgia are subject, and their 
remedies, are so well presented in the extracts from the replies 
of Mr. Peters, that it is not deemed necessary to make further 
comment upon them. 

BUTCHERING. 

The impression is very prevalent, even among experienced 
sheep-raisers, that the peculiar "sheepy " odor and taste some- 
times found in mutton, is due to the contact of the wool with 
the meat. This is a mistake which has occasioned much pre- 
judice against mutton as food. 

The true cause of this taste or odor is to be found in delay in 

disemboweling the carcass. 



20 

The intestines should be removed at the earliest possible 
moment after life is extinct, and before the removal of the 
pelt. 

If the intestines are allowed to remain until the pelt is re- 
moved, the gasses emitted from them are disseminated through 
the flesh and produce the objectionable taste and odor. If 
proper attention is paid to butchering well fatted muttons, there 
will be nothing, either in the odor or taste, to offend the most 
fastidious. 

Properly seived lamb or mutton furnishes at once a most 
wholesome, delicate, delicious and nutricious food, which should 
largely supplant the gross hog meat usually consumed in 
Georgia. 

CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

The most remarkable fact developed in the foregoing circu- 
lar is the handsome profit derived from sheep husbandry in the 
face of the most adverse circumstances. It is a notorious fact 
that very few of those who keep sheep in Georgia, pay more at- 
tention to them than to mark and shear them, except in the 
more Northern portions of the State, where they are fed a little 
in severe weather in winter. In view, too, of the fact, that so 
large a per cent, of the number in the State is annually des- 
troyed by dogs, the profits under the "let alone " system, so 
generally adopted, are unparalleled. What other investment 
will declare such dividends under similar circumstances? 

NATURAL TASTURKS. 

There are about 10.000,000 acres of practically unoccupied 
lands in Georgia, nearly all of which might be profi ably util- 
ized as sheep walks. A vast region in Southeastern and South- 
ern Georgia, extending fro n the Savannah to the Chattahoo- 
chee, is a natural pasture, on which a million of sheep could 
be raised with trifling expense, on the native wire-grass which 
grows up luxuriantly, affording excellent pasturage in summer, 
and a subsistence on the undermath (which remains green) in 
winter. The most valuable spontaneous grass, however, is the 
Bermuda, which is peculiarly adapted to the purposes of sheep 
pasturage, forming an impenetrable sod of exceedingly nutri- 
cious grass, equal to the best u blue-grass pastures of Kentucky, 
from early spring until frost. It will also supply winter pas- 



turage where partially protected by pine trees, under which is 
remains green through the entire winter, and is relished by all 
kinds of stock. 

A sod of Bermuda on lands unprofitable for cultivation, will 
support five sheep to the acre for nine months in the year. 

There are other natural grasses which afford good pasturage 
during the summer months. So much for spontaneous pastur- 
age which will keep the sheep in thriving condition for nine 
months, and will, in the southern portion of the State, subsist 
them for the other three. 

Admitting, that to preserve a uniform condition of health and 
thrift during the other three months, some 

ARTIFICIAL PASTURAGE 

Will be necessary. They can be readily and cheaply supplied. 
From the summer pasture they are turned upon the pea- 
fields, from which the corn has been gathered, care being taken 
to accustom them gradually to the consumption of the pea, to 
prevent injury by overfeeding. 

On these they will grow fat, and be either ready for the 
butcher, or for entrance into winter. 

From the pea field they go to the cotton field, which was 
sown in rye or oats in August or September, and is now green 
and succulent. These with the aid of the turnip crop, which 
was also sown in August and September, will furnish abundant 
green food until the return of early spring vegetation. If it 
is desired to reap a harvest from the grain fields, the turnips 
can be reserved for early spring feeding, as grain from which a 
crop is expected should not be grazed later than the ist of 
February. 

By the employing of moveable fence panels— several kinds of 
which are in successful use, the flock can be herded on just 
sufficient area of turnips to last them twenty-four hours, 
and this continued until the whole crop is consumed. While 
consuming the turnips they will heavily fertilize the soil. 

Our climate has this great advantage over those with more 
severe winters. 

In Middle and Southern Georgia, small grain furnishes 
green pasturage all winter, and a remunerating crop the next 
summer. 



Turnips need no protection, anc can be utilized with no 
more labor than is required to change the movable fence as 
often as necessary to give fresh pasturage. 

Another advantage, both in economy and to the health oi 
the sheep, which we have over more northern climates, is de- 
rived from the fact that, in the larger portion of Georgia, sheep 
do not need shelter in winter. This enables the husbandman 
to avoid, not only the expense of building shelters, but 
of hauling the manure from the shelters to the field, since, un- 
der the system suggested, the sheep will deposit all the winter 
droppings, either on the grain or turnip fields, where it is 

needed. 

If the farmer wishes dry food for winter use, the pea vine, 
German Millet, sorghum or sugar cane fodder may be made to 
furnish an abundance of very nutricious and cheap forage. 

No country in the world affords as cheap or better grain 
food for sheep than Georgia. Cotton seed, a surplus product 
from the cotton crop, which can be purchased at fifteen cents 
per bushel, has proved an excellent winter food for sheep. 

If the Bermuda grass and wire grass were properly utilised 
for summer pasturage, and small grain pastures and turnips for 
winter, Georgia could sustain 4,ooo,ooo sheep, and largely in- 
crease her agricultural products by converting much wasting 
vegetable matter into a superior fertilizer. 

PROTECTION NEEDED. 

The annoyance at present, attending sheep-raising in 
Georgia, to say nothing of the losses, deters many from en- 
gaging in it even under the stimulus of the large profits realiz- 
ed. The herdsman is compelled to protect his flocks with gun 
or poison against the ravages of dogs. He thus often incurs 
the ill-will of neighbors, which may manifest itself in resent- 
ment or retaliation ; or perhaps the death of a worthless cur 
may kindle the torch of the incendiary, or speed the bullet of 
the assassin. Tennessee has imposed a tax upon dogs as a 
means of protection to sheep husbandry. Some additional 
legislation for its protection is needed in Georgia. To secure 
this, the presentation of facts, and the expressed wish of the 
people, will probably meet a prompt response at the hands of 
an, intelligent and patriotic General Assembly. 



23 

Until the necessary protection can be secured, a resort must 
be had, either to inclosed pastures adjacent to dwellings, or to 
the employment of shepherds and shepherd dogs, where the 
flock, is sufficiently large to justify the expense 

The latter expedient will enable the farmer to utilize much 
valuable pasturage otherwise inaccessible, by herding his sheep 
on uncultivated tracts in cultivated fields. 

The shepherd, furnished with an axe or briar hook, can em- 
ploy his time, while the sheep are shading dur.ng the greater 
part of the day, in cleaning off brush and briars, and thus im- 
proving and increasing the pasture ground. Grass al?o, on 
commons, where it would not be safe to risk the flock alone, 
can thus be converted into mutton and wool. 

INFLUENCE ON LABOR. 

Labor is the vexed question which stands in the way of the 
solution of every other problem in Southern agriculture. At 
present, all the marketable products of the Southern farm are 
made by the employment of expensive human muscle. 

Under existing circumstances, neither brains nor capital, nor 
both combined, can sufficiently control labor to render it either 
reliable or profitable. The large introduction of sheep as 
laborers or manufacturers of wool and manure, will, to a great 
extent, diminish the demand for human labor, proportionately 
reduce its cost, and increase its efficiency by bringing it under 
better control. 

It will thus be seen that, as sheep husbandry is increased in 
Georgia, the difficulties of the labor question will diminish. 

Another difficulty of Southern agriculture is the fact that 
the products from a very large portion of the land in cultiva- 
tion, do not pay the cost of cultivat'on. 

All such lands can be made profitable as sheep walks, and 
gradually improved by the droppings of the flock, and kept 
clear of noxious weeds and shrubbery, thus saving much labor 
when it is desired to bring them again into cultivation. 

An agricultural community is usually stable, conservative, 
and averse to changes of policy or practice- 
Farmers adapt themselves slowly to changes of circumstan- 
ces, adhere tenaciously to habitudes of thought, yield with re- 
luctance their allegiance to traditionary practice before the 



24 

advancing wheel of progress, and demand the practical demon- 
stration of the correctness of each theory, before it is accepted. 

No theories untried by the touch-stone of practical experi- 
ence are presented in this circular. 

The facts given are derived from the experience and obser- 
vations of practical men, who are surrounded by the same cir- 
cumstances and difficulties as those who are here advised to 
"go and do likewise." The facts that have been presented re- 
move all doubt as to the profit of sheep husbandry in Georgia, 
and present a remarkable contrast between cotton and wool- 
growing in the State — the one selling at less than the cost of 
production, the other at 27^ cents profit per pound. 

All farmers in Georgia are, therefore, urged to embark, to 
the extent of their pasturage facilities, in raising sheep for 
wool. 

There are many millions of pounds of wool annually imported 
into the United States. There need be no fear, therefore, of 
the supply exceeding the demand, since the consumption of 
mutton and wool must increase with the increase of popula- 
tion. 

Sheep husbandry in Georgia offers a wide field of useful- 
ness, independence and profit to young men. It is to them 
that Georgia must look for the development of her resources. 
They are not trammeled by habits of thought and routine of 
practice. Let them survey well the field of enterprise before 
casting their lots in positions of dependence upon unreliable 
uncontrollable labor. 

It is to them that Georgia must look to build up her waste 
places, and restore, with their flocks, the lands which their 
fathers have exhausted with cotton. 

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